


The Dashed Line

by SoupyGoopy



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Recreational Drug Use, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24839311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoupyGoopy/pseuds/SoupyGoopy
Summary: Clementine's thoughts as she smokes for the first time with Violet.(EDITED)
Relationships: Clementine/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running), Minerva/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	The Dashed Line

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first real one shot, tell me what yall think if you'd like to. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! (:

Clementine adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulder and followed Violet inside her grandma's small house. She clumsily took off her shoes and curled her frigid toes into the soft carpet, grateful for her thick socks and boots. Violet was less fortunate though, pulling off soaking wet chucks and throwing them to the corner of the door, sighing at the pitiful squish they let out. Violet cracked her knuckles and walked to the living room, Clementine followed.

"One day I will steal your boots, Clem, you just wait."

Clementine snorted and thought about buying Violet some good winter boots, her birthday was coming up anyways, and she certainly had the money for it. While she knew it would be an amazing gift, she was rather hesitant at actually getting them. She wasn’t sure if it would be crossing the unspoken line that seemed to grow thinner by the day between them. Not that there was a line, but Clementine pretended that there was one, just for her own sake. Did it stop her from dipping her toes on the other side, no of course not. The line didn’t even exist anyways, or at least, that’s how Clementine justifies it to Louis. 

It was rather redundant. Schrödinger's cat but with boundaries instead of felines. She adjusted her hat and looked around the small house, a weird sort of warmth filling her from head to toe. 

God, I love this house way too much.

Clementine felt her heart pang at the little insecure smile and shrug Violet gave her. She didn’t know how sincere Clementine was when she told her that she loved her house, or anything for that matter, and she always thought Clementine was lying anytime she complimented anything of hers. It frustrated Clementine to no end, but the only thing she could really do was reassure her and wait for her to accept it, Clementine had plenty of time anyways.

She supposed that it had something to do with Violet's parents. Not her business though. 

“Home frozen home,” Violet said as she walked over to the thermostat and turned it up a degree.

The heater turned on and she could feel her body thawing out, the plush floors a nice and welcoming contrast to the hard freezing snow outside. Clementine sniffed and kept quiet as she looked at the various portraits and knick knacks, unsure of how to continue.

A thick awkwardness hung in the air, and Clementine felt her hands start to become sticky with cold sweat. She thought about saying something but her tongue felt too slow and they also just didn't have much to talk about. She swallowed. Was she being rude by not speaking? Racking her brain for topics wasn’t something she was well versed at, talking to Violet was something that sort of just came naturally to her. 

Whatever, there were other things to be concerned about anyways, like the fact that her heart rate and the butterflies in her tummy hadn’t slowed down since she met with Violet after school to walk home. This combined with how she spent thirty minutes last night picking out an outfit, and then spent another agonizing fifteen getting a disgruntled Louis to approve of it, rang bells. Really loud ones that Clementine completely ignored. Because the line totally didn’t exist, right?

At least, until Minerva came around, that is. Minerva had this excellent skill of crushing Clementine's hopes and mood by just being in the same room as Violet. Anytime Violet and Minerva were together, Clementine didn't want to be there, the awkwardness of having a crush on your "friend's" girlfriend suffocating. Unsurprisingly, it was during those moments that the line existed, and it existed _hard_. When Minerva was around, the line suddenly had a history dating back to the first Christmas and was so thick it rivaled that of Gabe’s skull.

Minerva didn't need to know about the line. She really didn't need to know that the line was one Clementine had been teetering on for a while, and she especially didn't need to know that Clementine had crossed it and was now flailing around on Violet’s side. And she didn't know, which was something Clementine intended on maintaining now that she was definitely going to start exploring Violet's side. 

Thinking about it too hard freaked Clementine out, the morality on it rather fuzzy, but she had long since accepted her fate. That acceptance didn’t erase her reluctance to actually admit her feelings though. 

But that was okay. So what if she maybe she does have a crush on Violet. Maybe it's a really big one too. A massive one. Not like it’s the end of the world, she could hide it for a couple more months, no problem.

Clementine felt her anxiety build at the silence and her face flush at the gentle smile Violet gave her as they walked to her room. The butterflies suddenly felt like wasps.

It was going to be a problem.

“So . . . Fridays, huh?”

Violet snorted and rolled her eyes fondly at Clementine. She crossed her arms.

“Yeah, sooo exciting right? What about getting high for the first time? Are you a real high schooler now?”

Clementine nervously chuckled, admiring how cute Violet looked with a bright red nose and ruddy cheeks.

“Only as real as those A24 coming-of-age films are.”

As they put their things down in Violet’s room, Clementine contemplated how good of an idea this was. Spending the night with her . . . whatever she felt towards Violet, and getting high for the first time with her? 

Isn’t high school the time to make stupid mistakes anyways?

Clementine had done worse things. Besides, maybe getting high would help her nerves around Violet, she certainly knew how it made Louis slow down and sink into the couch. She just hoped that she wouldn’t become too loose lipped like she was when she was drunk. 

Violet went to her closet and dug out a small bag from the corner. It was purple and had a couple of worn out buttons pinned onto the front of it. Violet sat on the floor and began to empty its contents.

“So you wanna smoke with me?”

Clementine nodded, aware of the fact that Violet was very skeptical of her actually wanting to. She sat down on the bed and watched Violet pull out a jar, a tray, and a thin torn out page.

“Yeah, I swear I’m not like, peer pressured or whatever, I just wanna know how it feels.”

Clementine was never really interested in smoking whenever Louis did it, but something about seeing Violet do it made her want to try it. Maybe it was peer pressure but she always reasoned that even if it was, at least it wouldn’t kill her. It wasn’t her fault that Violet looked so cool while doing it. Either way, she wasn’t lying when she said she wanted to know what it felt like. Louis told her it felt like being air and that it would help her relax, something she desperately needed.

Violet opened a mason jar and wrinkled her nose at the heavy scent of skunk that was let out. She placed it next to a tray and put an orange BIC lighter in her hoodie pocket. She then pulled out a pale blue sheet of card stock and an orange pill bottle.

“Just making sure, Clem, don’t you know that weed is demonic?" Violet paused and rummaged in her bag for something, "Um, can you give me some scissors please?”

Clementine got up and went over to her backpack, pulling out her pencil case and grabbing a pair of red scissors. She sat down in front of Violet and gave her the scissors, ignoring how the tips of her ears turned red when their fingertips touched. The pads of her fingers tingled where they had met Violet's. She bit the inside of her cheek to distract herself from it and babbled a response.

“I mean, how demonic can it be if Louis smokes it.”

Violet cut out a rectangle from the page and then started to cut a smaller rectangle out of the cardstock. She smiled and looked up at Clementine.

“What do you mean, have you seen his chair leg weapon? That boy is something else,” Violet opened the pill bottle and began to inspect the small buds in her jar. “Besides, we’re using Bible pages as rolling paper, we’re definitely gonna go to hell.”

Clementine’s brow furrowed as she briefly considered going to confession Sunday. It wasn’t like Clementine was terrified of smoking, she was just anxious. Anxious that she was going to suck at it and embarrass herself in front of Violet. She also heard that it didn’t taste particularly good and it would burn, but those were pushed aside. They would come forward when she actually started smoking, a luxury she wouldn't give her pride.

Unlike those warnings, Violet was always at the front of Clementine’s mind whether she liked it or not, and Clementine tried to avoid being embarrassed in front of her whenever possible.

Violet dropped a couple of buds in the pill bottle and closed the lid. She looked at Clementine’s hesitant face and placed her hand on Clementine’s knee in an effort to be reassuring. 

“Don’t worry, they don’t have any print, they’re blank. We aren’t gonna get anymore cancer than the usual lung one.”

It didn’t really help her fried nerves but she knew Violet was just showing her that she cared. Violet gave her the pill bottle and didn’t comment on Clementine’s pink cheeks.

“Now do me a favor and shake the shit out of this bottle.”

\---

Clementine carefully took the burning joint from Violet’s fingertips and rolled it gently in between her index and thumb. It smelled way worse than what she remembered from the last time she saw Louis smoke, maybe because she was finally the one behind the joint rather than far away from it. 

She watched Violet exhale and the thin gray smoke dissipate into the air. Violet sniffed and turned to face her.

“You’re gonna cough real bad and you’ll maybe burn your throat. Just sip and sip again, don’t choke.”

Clementine raised her eyebrow.

“What does that even mean?” 

Violet watched the smoke rise into the air from the lit joint and licked her lips.

“You know, just breathe past the burn? I guess? Don’t let it get caught in your throat.”

Clementine stared at the filter, the smoke creeping through the spirals of the cardstock. Now that she was about to smoke, she was rather indifferent. It felt as mundane as watching Louis smoke with Violet, and Clementine wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. She felt her lip quirk up as the heat from the cherry warmed her fingers. 

It made her a little dizzy to know that she would be sharing a joint with Violet, second hand kisses and such, but she pushed the feeling aside, figuring it was just her romanticizing smoking. Honestly, if she thought about it hard enough, she could feel her pink baby lungs turn into shriveled gray raisins. 

Her mind briefly reminded her about an antidrug commercials she saw when she was little, and the “contract” she signed in middle school forbidding her from doing any drug. 

How ironic that she would've been surrounded by it in high school. She supposed that it was something to have expected, but she was pretty tired of showing up to parties and being bodied by the putrid smell of weed and alcohol. 

She looked at the patio, the dark wood floor dirty and creaky. Violet crossed her legs and leaned back into the old brown couch with a knowing look on her face. Clementine sighed and dropped her shoulders, hoping to release any tension she had.

“What if I’m allergic and die or something?”

Violet laughed and sat closer to Clementine.

“You’re gonna do fine. Just breathe in and in again.”

Clementine brought the joint closer to her lips. Violet snorted as she watched her go cross eyed.

“Uh . . . can I have some water if I’m supposedly gonna choke and burn?”

Clementine just wanted to be alone so she could choke and cough without the embarrassment of doing it in front of Violet. 

“Oh yeah, sure, I’ll go get some.”

Violet got up and walked back inside, leaving Clementine alone and cold. 

Clementine felt her racing heart start to calm and took a short drag, feeling the heat of the smoke go down her throat and linger in it as she inhaled. She coughed and cleared her throat, the heavy taste of skunk and burnt paper coating her tongue as the smoke left her lips. She swallowed and stared at the joint in her fingers, wondering if she was high yet. 

Clementine didn’t really know what to expect, but feeling the exact same wasn’t something she had thought could happen. Her lungs sort of burned and her mouth tasted gross but otherwise, she was sober. She furrowed her brow and took another drag, making sure the smoke hung in her lungs for a couple of seconds before releasing it. 

Clementine turned her head when she heard Violet open the door again and watched her place two juice boxes and a bottle of water down on the short table in front of them. Clementine took another drag, this time slightly longer, before passing it to Violet, quickly realizing her mistake as she inhaled the smoke too quickly. Her eyes widened as she felt a sharp heat in her throat. She held the smoke as best as she could, before coughing it all out. 

There went her dignity. 

What was the point of even getting Violet to leave if she ended up scorching her throat either way? Clementine felt a wave of heat color her face as she sputtered, faintly feeling Violet pat at her back gently.

“Oh shit,” Clementine hacked out. The smoke seemed to cling to her throat and it hurt. It felt like the burn was trying to climb out of her esophagus and into her mouth. She wheezed a few more times before she could finally take a breath without feeling the air catch in her windpipe. 

She opened the bottle of water and sipped it a bit, the cold soothing the raw burn.

“I know what you mean now by not letting it catch, holy fuck,” Clementine husked out.

Violet took a long drag and spoke as she held the gray in her lungs. Clementine felt her heart stammer for a second when she thought she had caught Violet looking at her lips. It was too quick to tell. Clementine decided to save and scrutinize the moment later. 

“Yeah, it fucking sucks but it’ll go away in a thirty minutes or an hour, somewhere around there,” She blew out the smoke and grinned, “It happens to all of us when we smoke the first couple of times, you should’ve seen Louis the first time he smoked, he threw up from how hard he coughed.”

Clementine nodded, her ears hot as she took the joint back and puffed, the smoke irritating her lungs. She let out a small cough and swallowed down another sip of water, the burn pulsing each time she breathed. She passed it to Violet and watched her smoke. Stabbing the straw in her apple juice, she cleared her throat. It felt like moving hot coals.

She really should’ve listened to all of the Project Safety lessons her teachers gave.

“Fuck, why would anyone do this more than once then?”

Violet smirked and took the box from Clementine’s hands, “Because we just love burning the shit out of our throats,” She took a drink and gave it back to Clementine, “Give it a bit, it isn’t instant, Clem.” 

Clementine’s ears grew hot and she looked away while drinking her juice. It vaguely felt like moving through syrup. Clementine turned her head again and snorted, the light haze a nice distraction from the fire in her windpipe.

How anticlimactic.

The realization of what the rest of day had in store for her fully set in. She could already feel the regret seeping into her bones. 

Shit.

“Yeah, not instant my ass, I can already feel it, Vi,” Clementine muttered. Mischief sparkled in Violet’s eyes.

“Oh? I guess I’ll be sure to not let you smoke too much.”

Violet tapped the joint a couple of times to ash it, and then passed it. She looked at Clementine thoughtfully as she smoked, nodding when Clementine did it without hacking up a lung. Warmth bloomed inside her chest when she saw that Violet seemed to be actually impressed with her. Clementine furrowed her brow and swallowed down a cough.

It was probably just the weed.

\---

“You know, I used to hate you.”

It took Clementine a second to process those words. Fuck, it was really hitting her. Turning to face Violet on the couch, Clementine opened her eyes and blinked a few times.

“What?”

“When I first met you, I fucking hated you. I thought you were stuck up and so . . . perfect. It was frustrating, you know?” Violet put out the roach on the table next to the empty juice boxes. “You were just . . . you just came in and – and swept everyone off their feet. You’re so smart and pretty and athletic, god, I thought you were so stuck up for it.”

Green met brown. Funnily enough, they were both blushing for once. 

Clearing her hot throat, Clementine leaned her head on the arm rest and put her legs up on Violet’s lap. How serious was she supposed to take a confession when she was higher than everyone’s expectations of her? Clementine shifted the brim of her worn hat and shrugged, uncomfortably trying to ignore Violet’s sharp eyes. She briefly closed her own and felt the room spin uncontrollably and far too quickly. 

Fuck, she was decently high and actually having this conversation with her crush. She had to be in the wrong timeline.

Whatever.

Opening her eyes, Clementine met Violet’s and winked.

“I . . . I’m sorry for being the girl of your dreams, Vi.”

Violet let out a nervous bitter laugh and finished Clementine’s water before placing the roach and empty straw wrappers in it.

“Yeah, that you were.”

Clementine’s ears perked up, the crunch of cheap plastic irritating yet grounding. Heart pounding in her throat, Clementine bit the inside of her cheek. Alarm bells were ringing in her mind for her to not cross the line. 

Unfortunately, she felt a response tumble out of her mouth before she could consider that “suggestion”.

“And why didn’t you ask me out then?” Clementine asked, her tongue thick and heavy in her mouth. 

She felt herself start to sweat even though it was freezing cold outside.

What the fuck was she doing. Potentially ruining a great friendship hadn’t been on the to-do list for this stupid sleepover, yet there it was, in large bold print, right after getting baked. Clementine’s slow mind wasn’t prepared for this at all, and it was exhilarating while simultaneously being absolutely terrifying. Strangely and for once, caring wasn’t something that Clementine was worried about, and it felt like a low rate version of freedom. 

Clementine giggled at Violet’s reddening face and smirked.

No, it felt like being a fucking kid. And Clementine was going to enjoy it while it lasted. She licked her lips and continued.

“C'mon, we could’ve had a couple of dates at the garden center, gotten married after our 2 week anniversary, and moved to a cottage in the middle of the French countryside, but none of it happened just because you didn’t ask me out.“

Violet laughed and squeezed Clementine’s leg.

“Only in your dreams, Clem.”

Clementine adjusted her hat through the fog of syrup and felt herself sink deeper into the couch. She lazily smiled and held back another giggle.

“Yeah. You're right, I guess.”

Clementine could wait. 

Grabbing her shirt tightly, Clementine felt herself sway gently, like a nice little cloud being pushed by the wind. She hummed and purred as Violet traced patterns on her thighs.

“Only in my dreams.”

Clementine could definitely wait.


End file.
